VHP asks J&K govt to stop movement of Amarnath pilgrims

The Vishwa Hindi Parishad in Jammu and Kashmir today asked the state government to stop the movement of pilgrims to cave shrine of Amarnath in wake of the volatile situation in the Valley.

"Prudence should have been not to allow these pilgrims to move from Jammu at all in view of the explosive situation in Kashmir, which has been rocked by violence for last two days", VHP state unit president Ramakant Dubey told reporters here.

As per reports, today's batch of pilgrims have been stranded between Pampore and Bijbehara due to turbulent conditions prevailing in the valley, he said, adding markets and wayside facilities are curbed when curfew is imposed so the pilgrims will face a tough time.

Asking both Central and state government to ensure foolproof security to pilgrim, the VHP leader cautioned "any type of physical or otherwise harassment and damage to the pilgrims will have adverse repercussions throughout the country.

The Central government needs to tackle the situation with an iron hand by giving full powers to security forces, he said and asked Governor N N Vohra to dismiss the coalition government led by Omar Abdullah before the situation worsens.